Sunday, 17 September 2017

Something I have been hearing a lot of
lately is, “I’m trying. Really, I am!”

It’s been used to explain the reasons (or excuses)
for so many things, like not training regularly or not making great choices
with food. The list is endless.

Our language, or the story we tell
ourselves, does way more damage than we realise. What if the words you were
saying to yourself were actually the trigger for NOT doing something? Telling
yourself you are trying can oftentimes
mask the fact that you’re not doing. Have
you ever found that the story you kept telling yourself became the reason why
you didn’t achieve what you set out to achieve, and then the cycle continued?

Try this as an example. Before bed you head
off to brush your teeth, but rather than just brush your teeth you say to
yourself – I am going to try to brush
my teeth. What happens? First of all you have already hesitated, right? You may
then start to find a few small reasons as to why, maybe, you shouldn’t brush
your teeth. Then you might even find yourself distracted with another task and
you’ve forgotten to brush your teeth altogether. Or, it’s suddenly not as
important as the new task.

The same goes for exercising. You have
every intention of going to the gym. Don’t TRY to go, just do it. Just like
brushing your teeth, this should be automatic and should not require so much
thought and dialogue. You shouldn’t give yourself the opportunity to become
distracted or find something else that’s seemingly more important to do.

Eating well – I am TRYING to eat well, but
then the biscuits keep falling into my mouth. Try this instead, I am eating
well and making great choices because I want to nourish my body and feel strong
and healthy. Once again don’t try to do it, just do it.

Interestingly, we may become really proud
of ourselves for trying. All this does is attach a positive emotion to
something that actually doesn’t move us forward. From here we become
comfortable, and step out of our growth zone and into a spiral of getting
nowhere.

Sometimes, I believe we are our greatest
threat. Stop trying, start doing and watch how this simple change in language
can have the greatest impact on your ability to move forward.